Thank you very much Editors for all your hard work and efforts over the years. I found COYS in 2000 and over the years it has amused informed and led to some great and enduring friendships as well as some remarkable achievements One of which Rich Lindsleys original Idea led to Saints With Heart a charity walk that I have both helped raise funds for and arguably benefitted from the result! Memorable Pikerniks of which more a little later and some fab foriegn tours as well as expeditions to darkest Cornwall. Its been fun!

Sadly, since the 2015 demise of the Northampton Saints Official Forum, we have seen a gradual influx of posters who wish to argue for argument’s sake, belittle other contributors and generally seem to think, “I know what’s right, you are wrong – listen to me!”

The implication that this didn't happen on COYS before hand is rather rose-tinted. The difference is the club forums tend to keep to themselves these days.

Many thanks to all those involved over the years. Having been a regular viewer and sometime poster of the site over the years, I appreciate how much work has been needed to entertain us all. I share your feelings as to social media and current trends, which have led to me posting with less and less frequency recently. It was great while it lasted! Come on you Saints!!

Sorry it has come to this. Thanks to you all for your hard work. I totally understand the decision as I don't visit the board anything like as much as I used to in the past, when most postings appeared informed and debate could be had.

Just like to add my thanks to you all for what has been a difficult job, particularly of late. Whether it was the closing of the offy, or the fact that, as you rightly point out, it seems impossible these days to have a disagreement with someone without it turning vitriolic, the site is not the same as the one I first ventured onto quite a few years ago.

You are missing the point Robbie. Perhaps intentionally. Of course there were disagreements and bad behaviour. But that wasn't it's raison d'etre. Then it was community, information, banter and fun.
Ta Eds for a superb job. Amazed you've kept going this long. Sad day, but we're getting too many of those as Saints fans recently.

Ahh, the Geocities days.. happy memories.. Thanks to everybody who has helped maintain the site it was always more than a forum as far I was concerned, it introduced me to so many friends.. great job lads and lasses/

I don't think I would still be supporting Saints without firstly the information in the old days (when the club thought we were all mindreaders about changed match dates) and then the friends we all made.

Hopefully those friendships will continue in the future - Members Bar instead of Heros, anyone?

Thanks for the memories guys. Even met a few folk in real life.
And if it wasn't for this site, I'd never have discovered Touch rugby on Dallington Park, with a great bunch of Saints fans.
We've gone on to form firm friendships and the best Touch club in the Midlands, entering, and occasionally winning tournaments all over England.

Many thanks for the time and effort . As a mostly lurker, it was, unfortunately clear that this was inevitable. It's sad that folks can't discuss our wonderfull sport and team without getting verbally abusive.

Thank you for keeping it going when many others would have retired away from the acrimony a long time ago, Sad for the demise of this once great information and debating forum, recently spoiled by those who probably don't even realise who they are.

A very big thank you to the Editors and all the posters whose opinions and reports have informed and entertained over the years.

There are so many good memories, the waffle before and during and after games, the SWH walks, the Heroes meet-ups, the away trips...

OSB, wherever you are - thanks for all the rugby lore over the years; Broonie, thanks for the learnéd insights; Red Saint, thanks for the Putinistic perspective...and thanks to so many others - fortunately still around.

I wish WMS - wherever he is resting - would come up with one last piece of doggerel to mark our demise!

thanks EDs for your work , patience and much more. The founding of this site coincided more or less with our moving to Northampton and from its earliest days through COYS we have met and made many good friends within the Saints family.

What it was and has been will be very much missed - sadly what it has become ( no fault of the Eds ) will not be missed all that much.

Bear this in mind folks - it's not just that the editors are standing down, this forum in its current form is going.
There will need to be a new editor (or editors) to set up and moderate the new forum, and they'll need a steady supply of articles to keep the site going.

And having been here since 2001 or so, I'd like to add to the thanks to Chris and Rich from the early days who made COYSDC into what it was, and the more recent editors who have had to put up with so much on here.

Many thanks for all your good work. Since the closure of the official forum, this site has been my only source of information for all Saintly things. Sure, there have been issues recently, but without a community forum, how will we know what's happening?! Would be a good time for an official forum - as per Tiggers - but am sure this wont happen. Remember someone at Saints saying that the 'new' website couldn't accommodate a forum. At the time it made me wonder whether they had got the right website. Some of the recent criticism will probably reaffirm their decision. However I'd just like to say, that even those who have been particularly critical are still Saints fans and want the best for the club.

I wasn't sure whether the current content would remain - for some reason I'd assumed the new forum would start from scratch.

SN want the current content to remain but I've got talk to them about that - waiting to hear back from the SN guys as to the way forward. I've been gradually removing all reference to COYSDC so who ever takes will have to sort a new name. I'm sure SN will help in any way they can.

Whilst I'm here, thanks for the kind words, good people - much appreciated!

Much thanks from me as well to those who have kept the site running over these years. I've been here for around 10 years now and learned a lot about the club and met some friendly people to talk Saints with. Best wishes to those involved with the site in their future endeavours.

As an overseas supporter, this site has been my main point of reference for Saints news and comment for a number of years. I have been increasingly dismayed at the level of much of the debate, and vitriol, that have taken the place of much goid-natured discussion, while appreciating and valuing the nuggets of insight and reason that still appear.
The eds are to be thanked for persevering in a thankless and demanding task for so long, and I can fully understand them saying "enough is enough". Thank you to them for all the work over so many years.

Echo all the thoughts above, especially keith in bahrain. Moving around a lot with work, this site has been an informative, entertaining, thought-provoking, wonderful way to keep in touch with all things Saints. More recently however, it has given voice to some intolerant and holier-than-thou views from so-called supporters. Some of the bad-mouthing and personal written attacks on players and coaches (and other posters) have been rather unpleasant to read so it must have been unbearable for the fine editors of this forum. I emphasise that it is just a very small minority of the posters and that most of those have usually given critical but constructive comments over the years.

I am extremely sad to see this site close and will very much miss my daily catch up on here. I will look at the new format site of course but cannot see it matching this particular little slice of web heaven. Thank you so much for keeping the COYS forum alive for so long and with such style and endeavour. Totally understand your decision and I hope that those taking over have even half of your commitment to us Saints supporters.

keith in bahrainAs an overseas supporter, this site has been my main point of reference for Saints news and comment for a number of years. I have been increasingly dismayed at the level of much of the debate, and vitriol, that have taken the place of much goid-natured discussion, while appreciating and valuing the nuggets of insight and reason that still appear.

I live in France and totally agree with both your points, KinB! I've watched aggressive responses increase and even I,a fairly hardy soul, have been upset by one or two rude responses to a post of mine. So many thanks to the retiring Eds who have been trying to hold back the tide but finally had to give up a thankless task. I hope that the new site will keep me as well informed.

A massive thank you to all who been involved in running this sight and it's earlier versions. I have been educated, entertained and informed on so many aspects of the game. I have been sponsored by strangers and met strangers through this forum and those people are now my friends. The posts on this board from the two Albion games, I hope will stay in the memory for a long time.

keith in bahrainAs an overseas supporter, this site has been my main point of reference for Saints news and comment for a number of years. I have been increasingly dismayed at the level of much of the debate, and vitriol, that have taken the place of much goid-natured discussion, while appreciating and valuing the nuggets of insight and reason that still appear.
The eds are to be thanked for persevering in a thankless and demanding task for so long, and I can fully understand them saying "enough is enough". Thank you to them for all the work over so many years.

Long time supporter of the Saints, Circa 1958, now living in Oz so know how valuable this site has been to me and others like me.

Sad to see the deterioration in responses to differing viewpoints but sadly keyboard warriors shouting down alternative views seem to be the norm.

The Eds had a thankless task and I am surprised they didn't buckle much earlier , so thanks for that.

It seems a very longtime ago I stumbled across the Goecities site and have enjoyed the ride since and hope that the revised platform will still provide access to Saintly news.

Unfortunately Saints TV is not viewable down under so this is my only source of background information but I am fortunate to get all of The Aviva games on cable , thought that is not always a good thing****

Well done to all the editors over the years for keeping the site running. Many great friendships and memories created by this place, not least of which the Saints With Heart walks and COYS Touch which, as wheely says above, is going from strength to strength and is always on the lookout for more players!

Has anyone come forward to take over the site? If no-one does so by the end of the month, will the site close?

The season before this I contributed a number of previews and reviews to the site. This season i stopped as I couldn't see the point of writing stuff for my own amusement, as I clearly wasn't going to do it for the typical poster on here this season. Its noticeable that several other posters have voted with their feet as well leaving holes in the traditional more journalistic aspect of the board: only HR Saints fan kept the board active.

The irony is that a number of people have contributed to this thread who have made the board a miserable place this season, and who have commented on my opinions in a way that I consider unacceptable. Im not that easily offended either, but posting here is optional.

fwf"The irony is that a number of people have contributed to this thread who have made the board a miserable place this season, and who have commented on my opinions in a way that I consider unacceptable..."

Funny you should say that, FWF - what I find interesting is the complete lack of input on this thread of other over-opinionated "look at me, me, me, I know everything! "contributors" who have made no comment. Guilty by omission?

Thanks for all the positive statements. I know I will miss being an Ed at times. Not too often though.

If someone does come forward to run the site (I hope they do) then I hope all will also support them. It isn't easy trying to tread the fine line between what you should allow and what shouldn't be.

I have made some wonderful friends through my involvement with this site in it's various incarnations - from geocites to Rivals to here. I have learnt so much about rugby from reading the posts from the likes of broonie, oddshaped, ajack, Robbie (although his turn of phrase can rub people up the wrong way) and many others. That we all knew who Clive Norling was but still respected him for posting and never became abusive, even after tough losses - was another highlight.

The community we generated (some may call it a clique) where we did wonderful things such as picnics, the foreign trips and of course the wonderful Saints with Heart fund raising.

I will give you a wonderful example of that community. Through here I got to meet a lovely lady call Lorraine O'Malley (LOM please forgive me if it is spelt incorrectly). LOM has a wonderful way with the English language and so for a time the off topic board was known as planet LOM. Anyhow LOM was also fluent in French which came in handy on away trips. I was sitting next to LOM in the stand in Biarritz as she stood up and gave L'arbiter a tirade in fluent French much to the amusement of the locals around us. As she sat down we did point out that this particular ref was Scottish and wouldn't have understood a word

One more LOM story. She met through this community another old stalwart Mark Hazell. They are now married and have a wonderful young son.

We should all stand proud of what COYSDC has provided over the years.

Things change and I hope whatever comes next here or elsewhere can achieve half as much.

I would like to say a massive thank you to all the Ed's both past and present for giving us this amazing vehicle for us all to air our fervent views and the for the chance to interact with other Saints supporters.

Good luck in your future endeavors and if this forum continues into the future and thrives it will be testament to the labour of love you all put in over the years.

Proud member of the Saints Season Ticket Holder Happy Clapper Club since 2006.

Well done guys. It was never going to be be easy when Chris & the club decided to close the 'Offy'. Am sure Boon & Chappers will join me in saying well done & hope the next mods have fun, but it's certainly nothing I'd take on again re the abuse we got #Grubber1

Thanks to all the editors who've done so much, giving up their time etc to make this board what it's been. Although, at times it's been frustrating with some of the way threads have gone I genuinely like the entertainment I've received from it. Thanks for all of your work. Hopefully it'll get taken on, if not then well, I'll miss some of it.

This thread is like a blast from the past.. so many familiar names popping up who I haven't 'heard' from in a while and i share Phil's sentiment.. also, I was expecting an Eif post along the lines of " in Wales we would never close down a message board, Northampton Saints are so wrong to allow this to happen, the Scarlets message board remains the best..... "

Thanks to all you have done over the years. Got to meet a few people from on here. I'm sure the world will not end though and the forum with continue in some format here or elsewhere. Happy retirement Eds.

Ah - did wonder re that Flintstone - so really its a case of them having potential commercial value or as Stockers says, being used in the future for something else

Nice problem to have in one's back pocket

Obv just thinking out loud as "come on you saints" is somewhat of a mantra to the supporter base..
Although guessing it's just a case of switching to come-on-you-saints or similar if someone does take over??

Theres also a case of the goodwill in the name built up over 20 years, charitable work etc, players sponsored, things done with the club etc falling into the wrong hands StT and them trading on that name and/or damaging its reputation. Not all people who run (or want to run) sporting sites are paragons of virtue we all were

Also if someone came up with a similar sounding name to try and do the same, I'd personally go round their house and put their teeth in

I would just like to add my thanks and deep gratitude for you all for running this site so well and for so long. I can't remember when I first started reading it, but I began writing previews I think 5 years ago, and am hugely grateful for all your help and support in publishing my articles over the years, however tenuously linked to rugby, factually inaccurate or late they were!

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